At the AgWeb Blog, Rick Lundquist summarizes a recent study conducted by the University of Alberta of maximizing milk without acidosis, especially taking consideration that the key to maintaining rumen health is adaptation and stability by avoiding rapid dietary changes. Below is a clip from that article… To read the entire story, link here.

Nutritionists are often asked to walk the fine line of maximizing milk production per cow without compromising animal health.

Preventing subacute ruminal acidosis (SARA) can be a real challenge. Some level of SARA is inevitable even in the best managed high producing herds because of high intakes. Subacute acidosis is caused by the rapid accumulation of volatile fatty acids (VFA) in the rumen (acetate, propionate, and butyrate) which results in periods of low pH and this situation is exacerbated by high dry matter intake.

Researchers from the University of Alberta presented a paper at the 2009 Tri-State Dairy Nutrition Conference that discussed the latest developments in our understanding of ruminal acidosis. They found that there is a great deal of variability in the susceptibility of individual cows to SARA. Some cows are much more likely to exhibit symptoms of SARA than others, presumably due to differences in intake level, eating rate, salivation, feed sorting and inherent rumen physiological variation. For these reasons, it’s almost impossible to totally eliminate SARA in a high producing herd when rations are balanced for the average cow.